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2022-10-04
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Redecoration, Indirectly

Summary:

For Day 1 of Phantastober, for the prompt "Reanimated". Lucienne notices that things in the Dreaming feel brighter and wonders why.

Work Text:

It wasn't until a few months after the resolution of the dream vortex crisis that Lucienne noticed a change in the atmosphere of the Dreaming. It was subtle at first - like the gradual shift in the light at the changing of the seasons in the waking world, which took you forward inch by inch until you suddenly woke up one morning and declared that summer had come upon you so sudden that you hadn't seen it coming.

If she didn't know better, she'd have said there was a new vitality about things, and it wasn't just because Dream was back. The kinds of effects she was seeing in the landscape of the Dreaming pointed to changes in the person of its monarch. She kept her thoughts about it to herself for a while, but even so, others were noticing it too.

"He's been spending quite a bit of time in the waking world, " Matthew said from his perch high up on one of her shelves. She was sorting through a lot of new fantasy books that would never see the outside of their authors' heads.

"Maybe he's taking to heart what we all told him," she retorted.

"He told me to stay behind the last few times," Matthew replied.

"Which, of course, you did, dutiful as you are," said Lucienne.

"Obviously," Matthews said and paused. Lucienne stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "Looks like he's... found someone."

Lucienne sighed. "How much disaster should we prepare for this time around?" Matthew flapped his wings. "I'm not sure I understand. That sort of thing is usually good news, isn't it?" Lucienne frowned. "Not for him, no. She's not a mortal, is she? There are rules about that kind of thing, no thanks to Desire."

"Technically, I suppose, *he* is not," Matthew said. "Used to be though, as far as I know."

Lucienne's eyes widened and the corners of her mouth quirked upwards. "Well," she said. She picked up another armful of books and continued shelving. "I know human lifespans are nothing to the Endless, but even so - six hundred years is a long time to realise what your sister was trying to do when she made someone immortal and set you up to see them at regular intervals." She paused. "That explains why things feel so brigt around here of late. I bet it's raining flowers in Fiddler's Green or something equally daft. Have you been over there recently?" Matthew tried to hide his beak under a wing. "I was picking those petals out of my feathers for a week afterwards. So, you know about this guy?"

Lucienne smiled. "I could tell you the whole thing, but it's not the same as hearing it from the horse's mouth. When we're finished in this section, we're having a good long sit-down with the book of one Robert Gadling, and you can hear all about it."